Late Swallow

On the way to Porthclais this afternoon I had a red-throated diver fly west over the A487 at Pen y Cwm towards the sea. Porthclais was thronged with birds, in particular blackbirds, of which there seemed to be two or three to a bush, busily feeding on haws and sloes. There was a single song thrush, many dunnock, some robins, lots of blue tits, several great tits and 6 or so long-tailed tits. At least 4 goldcrest were seen in the valley. Overhead, there was a steady but sparse movement of small birds, especially chaffinch; and three flocks of lapwing, totalling c130. There was a single raven and a lone sparrowhawk, but the highlight was a late swallow which came down the valley towards the sea and then flew around for several minutes feeding on the flies which, as the sun had come out, were buzzing around in the lee of the bushes along the valley edge.